[June 22, 2004] Web Part Composer Dramatically Speeds Development of Solutions Using Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies; firstRain Announces Advanced Solution for Web Part Development NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- June 22, 2004 -- firstRain, Inc., today announced the release of firstRain(R) Web Part Composer(TM) for Microsoft(R) SharePoint Products and Technologies(R). firstRain Web Part Composer represents a breakthrough solution for rapid "no programming required" creation of robust Web Parts from existing Web-enabled content and applications. The new release is specifically optimized for users of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, allowing developers and users alike to quickly create new Web Parts and flexibly integrate them into personalized SharePoint solutions. "Web Part Composer offers capabilities that can be an important addition to SharePoint Products and Technologies for customers trying to integrate Web-based applications and sources of information," according to Jeff Teper, General Manager, Business Portals Group at Microsoft Corp. "We welcome the announcement of the new product release." The Web Part Composer software platform provides a number of capabilities important to rapidly creating SharePoint-based portals that centralize information and applications access, including: -- A Powerful Studio Interface - The Web Part Composer uses a point-and-click approach to specify the portions - called Views - of an existing Web application or information pages to be accessed from either Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services. Each View provides a dynamic connection to the source application or information. -- Rapid Web Part Development - Captured Views are easily linked together, resulting in a new Web Part targeted to the specific needs of users. The resulting Web Parts are automatically delivered to the SharePoint Web Part Gallery where they can be easily accessed by SharePoint users. -- Tight SharePoint Integration - Web Part Composer is developed to fully integrate with Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 & Windows(R) SharePoint Services. -- Security - Windows Integrated Authentication security model is fully supported. This enables the ease of managing multiple web-based applications within SharePoint. Using firstRain Web Part Composer, Web Parts can be created in minutes versus hours, and they can be modified and reformatted, as needed, using a very powerful, easy to use GUI XSL Design tool provided out of the box. This creates a unified look and feel for the portal while presenting data from multiple applications. "SharePoint Products and Technologies with firstRain Web Part Composer is an extremely powerful combination", said Gaurav Rewari, CEO of firstRain. "Web Part Composer significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to provide access to existing applications and content from the SharePoint collaboration environment. The result is lower cost, faster time to solution, and greater flexibility to change." The Web Part Composer Mobilzer(TM), an add-on feature of Web Part Composer, supports powerful features focused on the special requirements of extending SharePoint Portal Server 2003 content to mobile users. These features include: -- Access to Web Parts from mobile devices, so that the same Web Part definition can be used across devices of different types and capabilities, greatly simplifying deployment. -- Support for most popular mobile devices, including the PalmOne, iPAQ, RIM Blackberry, as well as most Web-enabled cell phones. "Many of our SharePoint customers have already invested in web-based applications for their ERP, CRM, and other specific critical systems. By leveraging firstRain Web Part Composer, they can maintain and now centralize those investments, which is a huge need," said Greg Mayer, President of Charlotte, NC based MetaLogix, Inc., a Microsoft Certified Partner and a leading provider of SharePoint Product and Technologies solutions. "The Web Part Composer is as natural extension of SharePoint. It allows us to easily integrate hard-to-access applications and information sources that would otherwise require expensive and time-consuming applications integration. Our customers quickly realize their return on investment." Web Part Composer is available for immediate shipment from firstRain, Inc. and its resellers. Pricing is set at $4,990 per server CPU. The WPC Mobilzer Add-On is available for an additional $4,990 per CPU. firstRain will be conducting online Live Meeting(R)sessions to familiarize developers and users to the power of Web Part Composer for SharePoint on June 29th, July 14th, August 18th, and September 15th. For more information or to register, please visit http://www.webpartcomposer.com/webinars. Space is limited. About firstRain firstRain is the leading provider of market intelligence solutions and a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. These solutions improve enterprise decision support by flexibly integrating and monitoring a wide variety of information, applications, and business events from the Internet and corporate Intranets, and delivering this to individual users through dashboards, portals, hand held devices or to other programs. Its solutions deliver value to customers by improving their ability to react to new opportunities and enabling faster, better-informed decisions. For more information, please visit firstRain at www.firstRain.com. Microsoft, Windows, and SharePoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. firstRain, Instant Awareness, and the firstRain logo are registered trademarks of firstRain, Inc. Web Part Composer and Web Part Composer Mobilzer are trademarks of firstRain, Inc. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of their respective owners. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]